Chew on this: San Antonio lawmaker seeks to raise smoking age to 21

Employees Art Diaz, left, and Jimmie Allen, right, test a number of different e-juices at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Employees Art Diaz, left, and Jimmie Allen, right, test a number of different e-juices at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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Shellbey Knight refills her e-cigarette with e-juice at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio. A bill with bipartisan support in the Texas Legislature would raise the age at which one can buy tobacco products and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21 years old. less

Shellbey Knight refills her e-cigarette with e-juice at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio. A bill with bipartisan support in the Texas Legislature would raise the age at which ... more

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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The Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway is run by Richard Tisdale, who owns two locations, on Monday, January 23, 2017 in San Antonio. A bill with bipartisan support in the Texas Legislature would raise the age at which one can buy tobacco products and e-cigarrettes from 18 to 21 years old. less

The Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway is run by Richard Tisdale, who owns two locations, on Monday, January 23, 2017 in San Antonio. A bill with bipartisan support in the Texas Legislature would raise the ... more

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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Employee Art Diaz cleans a number of e-juice testers at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Employee Art Diaz cleans a number of e-juice testers at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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Jimmie Allen, left, helps a customer at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio. Store owner Richard Tisdale said many of his customers are seeking an alternative to cigarettes.

Jimmie Allen, left, helps a customer at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio. Store owner Richard Tisdale said many of his customers are seeking an alternative to cigarettes.

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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Testers sit ready for use at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Testers sit ready for use at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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Employee Art Diaz uses his e-cigarette as he works at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Employee Art Diaz uses his e-cigarette as he works at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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Bottles of e-juice made by Texas Vape Stores are ready for sale at the store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Bottles of e-juice made by Texas Vape Stores are ready for sale at the store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio.

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

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Owner of Texas Vape Stores, Richard Tisdale, left, talks with one of his customers, SFC Stephanie Thompson, center, at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio. Tisdale doesn’t support a bill that would raise the smoking age to 21 because 18-year-olds are legally considered adults. less

Owner of Texas Vape Stores, Richard Tisdale, left, talks with one of his customers, SFC Stephanie Thompson, center, at the Texas Vape Store off of Austin Highway on Jan. 23 in San Antonio. Tisdale doesn’t ... more

Photo: Matthew Busch /For The San Antonio Express-News

Chew on this: San Antonio lawmaker seeks to raise smoking age to 21

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In Texas, everyone who turns 18 is allowed to vote, serve on a jury, join the military, play the lottery and — for now — buy and use tobacco products.

Those under 21 would lose the freedom to light up under a new proposal by San Antonio Democrat Sen. Carlos Uresti that would raise the minimum age to buy and use tobacco products and electronic cigarettes to 21. Despite the potential health benefits, the measure will likely face pushback from those unwilling to revoke the rights of those legally considered adults.

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“An increased smoking age takes advantage of a simple fact — the later one tries that first cigarette, the less likely they are to become a lifetime user,” Uresti said. “Studies are finding that between ages 18 and 21, kids are moving from experimental smoking, to become regular everyday smokers.”

Uresti has pushed for 10 years to raise the smoking age above 18. Each time his efforts fell short, but this year the measure has bipartisan support in the Texas House and Senate.

It was miliary veterans who originally lit a fire under Uresti, inspiring him to file the first version of his bill in 2007. They told him they regretted picking up the habit when they were young.

But Richard Tisdale, owner of Texas Vape Stores in San Antonio, said consideration for the military is the reason why the smoking age shouldn’t be raised.

“These military kids come to my shop all the time, and if they’re big enough and old enough to go and fight for this country then they’re damn sure old enough to handle an e-cigarette,” Tisdale said.

Tisdale’s sentiment was echoed by the Libertarian Party of Texas and John Baucum, chairman of Texas Young Republicans.

“You’re considered an adult for most purposes in the eyes of the state,” Baucum said. “If you’re old enough to vote, you should be old enough to decide whether or not you want to smoke a cigarette.”

Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, a Republican supporter of the proposal in the House, said the goal of the legislation is to widen the gap between the availability of tobacco products and high school-aged people.

North Side resident Marcus Evans, 20, said he started smoking at 16 when a coworker gave him a cigarette. He feels like cigarettes help him de-stress and believes smoking has kept him away from harder drugs. His experience makes him feel ambivalent about the possiblity of the state raising the smoking age.

“I wish I hadn’t started, but I’m also kind of glad it was there for me,” Evans said. “It’s more safe for kids to get their hands on a pack of cigarettes than for them to get a little baggy from their friends.”

The prevailing thought among health professionals is if people start smoking later in life, they’re less likely to get addicted and become habitual smokers.

“Nobody goes in saying ‘I want to be addicted to this, and I want this to control my life,’” said Dr. Sandra Adams, a pulmonary diseases specialist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. “If you could just hold people off for a little bit longer, the chances are that they may choose to not start.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking among middle and high school students declined from 2011 to 2015, while the use of electronic cigarettes increased. In 2015, 16 percent of high school students said they had smoked electronic cigarettes in the last 30 days, and 9.3 percent had smoked cigarettes.

The CDC identified increased taxes as one reason tobacco use has declined in recent years. Texans are taxed $1.41 per pack of 20 cigarettes and $1.22 per one ounce of chewing or pipe tobacco, according to the Texas comptroller.

In 2013, the Legislative Budget Board estimated that raising the smoking age to 21 would cost the state nearly $39.5 million in lost general revenue from taxes over two years. In 2015 alone, Texas collected $1.5 billion from cigarette and tobacco taxes, according to the Texas comptroller.

In a tight budget year, the loss of immediate revenue through tobacco taxes could be a major detractor. But Zerwas hopes lawmakers look at the proposal from a moral perspective.

“The idea behind the tax is, of course, to deter people from smoking,” Zerwas said. “If they do say that we’re financially dependent on these taxes at the expense of the health of our citizens, and especially our youth, that’s something that we ought to really weigh and balance. Is that really the right thing to do?”

A report published in December by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that raising the smoking age would prevent more than 1,300 preterm births and 2,300 cases of low birth weight in the first five years of its implementation, saving Texans an estimated $406 million in health-care costs.

“This small change in age will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in health-care costs over the next five years, but most importantly, it will save lives,” Uresti said.

Neither the Texas Food and Fuel Association, which represents convenience stores, nor the Texas E-cigarette and Vaping Association have taken an official position on the proposal.

There are more than 15,600 convenience stores in Texas, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores. Tobacco sales accounted for 35.9 percent of overall convenience store revenue in the U.S. in 2016, and 16.7 percent of total profit.